Wireless Internet Access with Enhanced Bandwidth Capabilities

ABSTRACT

Techniques for efficiently and economically providing data transfer through wireless data networks. These techniques are particularly suitable for Internet data transfers. In one aspect, mobile devices are able to be allocated additional wireless channels to obtain increased data transfer capabilities. The additional wireless channels can be used for unicast, multicast or broadcast of data. These techniques provide additional wireless bandwidth to mobile devices and allows control over allocation of the additional wireless bandwidth.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/632,818, filed Oct. 1, 2012, and entitled “WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESSWITH ENHANCED BANDWIDTH CAPABILITIES”, and which is hereby incorporatedby reference herein, which in turn is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/775,092, filed Jul. 9, 2007, and entitled“WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS WITH ENHANCED BANDWIDTH CAPABILITIES”, andwhich is hereby incorporated by reference herein, which in turn is (a) adivisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/967,532,filed Sep. 27, 2001, and entitled “WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS WITHENHANCED BANDWIDTH CAPABILITIES”, and which is hereby incorporated byreference herein, which in turn claims the benefit of: (i) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/236,016, filed Sep. 27, 2000, andentitled “WIRELESS INTERNET USING CELL BASED CHANNELS FOR ADDITIONALCAPACITY AND MULTICAST DATA TRANSMISSION WITH VARIABLE DELAYEDRESPONSE”, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein; and (ii)U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/266,924, filed Feb. 6, 2001,and entitled “METHODS, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR MOBILE INTERNETNETWORK”, and which is hereby incorporated by reference herein; and (b)a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/578,816,filed May 24, 2000, and entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REDUCTION OFDELAY AND BANDWIDTH REQUIREMENTS IN INTERNET DATA TRANSFER”, and whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein, which in turn claims thebenefit of: (i) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/167,516,filed Nov. 24, 1999, and entitled “REDUCTION OF DELAY AND BANDWIDTHREQUIREMENTS IN INTERNET DATA TRANSFER”, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein; and (ii) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.60/188,982, filed Mar. 13, 2000, and entitled “REDUCTION OF DELAY ANDBANDWIDTH REQUIREMENTS IN INTERNET DATA TRANSFER”, and which is herebyincorporated by reference herein.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/721,907, filed Nov. 24, 2000, and entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FORPROVIDING LOCAL CONTENT FOR USE IN PARTIALLY SATISFYING INTERNET DATAREQUESTS FROM REMOTE SERVERS”, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,455, and which ishereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to wireless networks and, moreparticularly, to data transmission over wireless networks.

Description of the Related Art

The Internet or the World Wide Web is a global network of interconnectedcomputers. Clients or users can access files or documents, e.g.,hypermedia documents, residing on the host website computers connectedto the Internet through use of a network browser program. Examples ofnetwork browser programs include Netscape Navigator or MicrosoftExplorer. One type of hypermedia documents is commonly referred to asweb pages. Sites or documents on the Internet are typically chosen by auser by entering a site address, i.e., a Universal Resource Locator(URL), or by a selection of a link on a displayed web page.

FIG. 8 is a conventional client/server system 800. The conventionalclient/server system 800 includes a client system 802 that couples to aserver system 804 via the Internet 806. In this manner, any of aplurality of local files 808 (documents) associated with the serversystem 804 can be delivered to the client system 802 through theInternet 806. For example, the server system 804 transfers data forfiles 808 to the client system 802 through the Internet 806 utilizing astandard protocol, e.g., Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), fortransferring data through the Internet 806. The server system 804represents a host website computer providing the local files 808.

Unfortunately, due to the increased popularity of the use of theInternet 806 and due to increases in file sizes that are to be deliveredto the client system 802 through the Internet 806, increasing demandsare placed on the server system 804 and links 810 and 812 to handle theincreased traffic. The file sizes continue to increase as files (e.g.,web pages) become more elaborate and more graphical. As a result,general congestion tends to form in the system 800. This generalcongestion (or traffic) leads to slowed data transfer through theInternet 806, and thus clients or users face long waiting times.

In the case where the client system 802 connects to the Internet 806through a wireless network and a wireless Internet Service Provider(ISP), the data transfer is presented with additional difficulties.Namely, the wireless connection has limited bandwidth which leads toeven slower data transfer. The slow data transfer is not onlyfrustrating to users but also expensive as users typically have to payfor wireless Internet access on a connection time basis.

Conventional solutions to difficulties problems with providing wirelessInternet access have primarily been directed at reducing the amount ofdata to be transferred. For example, with Internet access, the datarequested is often a web page. Conventionally, web pages have been“stripped down” for wireless access. For example, graphical images havebeen removed from the web pages. While removing graphical images doessubstantially reduce the amount of data to be transferred for a webpage, it results in an uninteresting web page. The graphical images areimportant not only to the presentation of the information associatedwith the web page but also to providing advertising revenue. Anotherconventional approach has been to build private wireless networks fordensely populated user areas, such as a corporate site, university,hotel, etc. These private wireless networks might be able to provideimproved Internet access, but these networks are expensive to build andare only usable while in limited areas (e.g., corporate site,university, hotel).

Therefore, there is a need for improved techniques for efficiently andeconomically providing data transfer through wireless data networks.

SUMMARY

Broadly speaking, the invention relates to techniques for efficientlyand economically providing data transfer through wireless data networks.The invention is particularly suitable for Internet data transfers. Inone aspect of the invention, mobile devices are able to be allocatedadditional wireless channels to obtain increased data transfercapabilities. The additional wireless channels can be used for unicast,multicast or broadcast of data. The invention provides additionalwireless bandwidth to mobile devices and allows control over allocationof the additional wireless bandwidth.

The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as amethod, system, apparatus, and computer readable medium. Severalembodiments of the invention are discussed below.

As a method for sending data to wireless device over a wireless network,one embodiment of the invention includes at least the acts of: receivinga plurality of requests for a particular resource provided at a remoteserver on a wired data network, the plurality of requests being providedby different wireless devices; retrieving the particular resource fromthe remote server once for the plurality of requests to obtain theparticular resource requested by the plurality of requests; andthereafter sending the particular resource to the different wirelessdevices.

As a system for transmitting data from servers through a wireless datanetwork to wireless clients, one embodiment of the invention includes atleast: a wireless Internet Service Provider centers coupled to thewireless data network and a wired data network, the wireless datanetwork utilizing a plurality of base stations located at geographicallydistinct areas; and a plurality of banks of additional wireless devices,each of the additional wireless devices being capable of providing atleast one wireless data channel to said wireless Internet ServiceProvider via the wireless data network

Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles ofthe invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be readily understood by the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,wherein like reference numerals designate like structural elements, andin which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless data system according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of data transmission processing according toone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of data reception processing according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a wireless data system according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a wireless data system according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a wireless data system according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a location table indicating locations of mobiledevices, and an additional channel assignments table indicatingrepresentative assignments of additional channels to particular basestations.

FIG. 8 is a conventional client/server system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to techniques for efficiently and economicallyproviding data transfer through wireless data networks. The invention isparticularly suitable for Internet data transfers. In one aspect of theinvention, mobile devices are able to be allocated additional wirelesschannels to obtain increased data transfer capabilities. The additionalwireless channels can be used for unicast, multicast or broadcast ofdata. The invention provides additional wireless bandwidth to mobiledevices and allows control over allocation of the additional wirelessbandwidth.

Embodiments of the invention are discussed below with reference to FIGS.1-8. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that thedetailed description given herein with respect to these figures is forexplanatory purposes as the invention extends beyond these limitedembodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless data system 100 according to oneembodiment of the invention. The wireless data system 100 includes awireless Internet Service Provider (ISP) 102. The wireless ISP 102provides wireless access to remotely located data for users of awireless network 104. The wireless network 104 typically includesvarious base stations. As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network 104includes a base station #1 106 within a first geographic region 108 anda base station #2 110 in a second geographic region 112. The basestation #1 106 communicates with mobile devices 114 and 116 within thefirst geographic region 108 using radio frequency (RF) transmissions.Likewise, the base station #2 110 communicates with mobile devices 118and 120 within the second geographic region 112 using radio frequency(RF) transmissions. The wireless network 104 can also provide voiceservices for those of the mobile devices that are or include mobilephones. Hence, the RF transmissions can be used to transmit data and/orvoice between the mobile devices and their associated base station.

In one embodiment, the mobile devices 114-120 are mobile computingdevices that include network browsers that can request data that isremotely located and can receive incoming data. The mobile devices114-120 can also be mobile communication devices such as mobile phones(e.g., cellular phones). The mobile devices 114-120 can also include adisplay screen upon which incoming data can be displayed. For example,the incoming data can be data files. The data files can pertain todocuments, such as markup language documents. In the case of markuplanguage documents, the markup language documents can be displayed onthe display screen as web pages. One example of a markup languagedocument is a HTML document.

The wireless data system 100 also includes a public network 122 thatcouple the wireless ISP 102 to various remote content servers, such ascontent server 124 and content server 126. The content servers 124 and126 store remote resources that can be requested by the mobile devices114-120. As an example, the public network 122 can be the Internet orthe World Wide Web (WWW).

The wireless data system 100 operates to permit the mobile devices114-120 to utilize additional channels beyond their fixed channel inorder to transmit or receive data through the wireless network 104. Themobile devices 114-120 thus include hardware support (e.g., programmabletransceivers) for additional channels. Conventionally, a mobile devicehas a single channel (fixed channel) over which the mobile device isable to communicate with a base station to receive and transmit voiceand/or data. Here, the mobile devices 114-120 support not only thenormal single channel but also one or more additional channels that canbe temporarily utilized or assigned to one or more of the mobile devices114-120. A mobile device is thus able to communicate with a base stationusing multiple channels. Consequently, data transfer rates between amobile device and a wireless network are substantially improved.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of data transmission processing 200 accordingto one embodiment of the invention. The data transmission processing 200can, for example, be performed by a wireless ISP (e.g., the wireless ISP102) or other suitable component of a wireless data system.

The data transmission processing 200 begins with a decision 202 thatdetermines whether an additional channel request has been received.Here, a mobile device (or some agent on its behalf) can request that anadditional channel be assigned so that it is able to transmit data overthe wireless network at greater data transfer rates. When the decision202 determines that an additional channel request has not yet beenreceived, the data transmission processing 200 awaits such a request. Inother words, the data transmission processing 200 is effectively invokedwhen an addition channel request is received.

Once the decision 202 determines that an additional channel request hasbeen received, available additional channels are determined 204. Here,the channel manager typically has a number of channels that areavailable for use and assignment to handle data transfers between themobile devices and the wireless network of the wireless data system. Theavailable additional channels are those channels that are available tobe assigned for data transmission purposes. Next, one or more additionalchannels are allocated 206 for use by the requestor. The requestor isthe mobile device or its agent that has requested the additional one ormore channels. Then, channel allocation information is sent 208 to therequestor. The channel allocation information specifies one or morechannel identifiers that uniquely identify the additional one or morechannels that have been allocated to the requestor. Upon receiving thechannel allocation information, the requestor (i.e., mobile device) canoperate to configure its one or more programmable transceivers toutilize the allocated one or more additional channels.

After the channel allocation information has been sent 208, data isreceived 210 from the requestor via at least the one or more additionalchannels. Here, data is sent through the wireless network by therequestor using the one or more additional channels that have beenallocated. Further, the data can also be sent through the wirelessnetwork by the requestor using the primary channel associated with therequestor. Alternatively, the primary channel (fixed channel) can beused as a two-way control channel. After the data has been received 210,channel deallocation information is sent 212 to the requestor. Thechannel deallocation information informs the requestor that the one ormore additional channels that have been previously allocated andutilized are now deallocated and not to be further used. Here, therequestor can then close connections to limit connection time anddeactivate hardware components (e.g., the programmed transceivers) thathave been utilized to transmit the data over the one or more additionalchannels. After the channel deallocation information sent 212, the oneor more additional channels can be deallocated 214. By deallocating theone or more additional channels, the additional channels becomeavailable for subsequent use as available additional channels, such asto satisfy other additional channel requests. Following the operation214, the data transmission processing 200 is complete and ends.

According to the data transmission processing 200, a mobile device isable to gain temporary use of one or more additional channels over whichdata can be transmitted from a mobile device to a destination through awireless network. The destination can be a computing device (e.g.,server computer) coupled to the public network (e.g., the Internet) oranother mobile device. Hence, the dynamic allocation of one or moreadditional channels to a mobile device substantially improves the datatransmission capability of the mobile device.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of data reception processing 300 according toone embodiment of the invention. The data reception processing 300 can,for example, be performed by a wireless ISP (e.g., the wireless ISP 102)or other suitable component of a wireless data system. The datareception processing 300 is associated with a transfer of data through awireless network to a mobile device using additional channels to gainincreased bandwidth (i.e., faster data rate).

The data reception processing 300 begins with a decision 302 thatdetermines whether a data request has been received from a requestor(i.e., mobile device). When the decision 302 determines that a datarequest has not yet been received, the data reception processing 300awaits such a request. Once the decision 302 determines that a datarequest has been received, a decision 304 determines whether therequestor can use additional channels. Here, the decision 304 can takeinto consideration a variety of items. For example, the requestor mightnot be able to use additional channels because the requestor may not bepermitted to use additional channels due to limitations of their mobiledevice or their subscription plan with the wireless network. As anotherexample, the requestor may not desire to use additional channels due toadditional charges or fees that may be imposed. On the other hand, therequest from the requestor could itself indicate a desire to useadditional channels. The request could also indicate its capabilities tohandle additional channels. The availability of additional channels foruse with the requestor also affects the decision 304.

In any case, when the decision 304 determines that the requestor is notto use additional channels, then the requested data (content) isretrieved 306. The requested data is typically stored on a contentserver that is accessible to the wireless network or a wired networkcoupled thereto. Then, the requested data is transmitted 308 to therequestor via the private channel associated with the requestor. Theprivate channel is the main or primary channel that is typically fixedwithin a mobile device when placed in service.

On the other hand, when the decision 304 determines that the requestorcan use additional channels, one or more additional channels areallocated 310 for data transfer. These additional channels operate aswireless data channels through the wireless network. Next, channelallocation information is sent 312 to the requestor. The channelallocation information informs the requestor of the one or moreadditional channels that are going to be utilized to transfer data tothe requestor (i.e., mobile device). Upon receiving the channelallocation information, the requestor (i.e., mobile device) can operateto configure its one or more programmable transceivers to utilize theallocated one or more additional channels.

After the channel allocation information has been sent 312, data can betransmitted 314 to the requestor via at least the one or more additionalchannels. Typically, the data transmission utilizes not only the one ormore additional channels that have allocated for use with the requestorbut also the private channel associated with the requestor.Alternatively, the primary channel (fixed channel) can be used as atwo-way control channel. After the data has been transmitted to therequestor, the one or more additional channels that were allocated forthe data transfer with the requestor can be deallocated 316. Bydeallocating the previously allocated one or more additional channels,these one or more additional channels become again available forreassignment. Then, the channel deallocation information is sent 318 tothe requestor. After receiving the channel deallocation information, therequestor can then close connections to limit connection time anddeactivate hardware components (e.g., the programmed transceivers) thathave been utilized to receive the data incoming on the one or moreadditional channels. Following the operation 318, as well as followingthe operation 308 in the case in which no additional channels areutilized, the data reception processing 300 for the data request iscomplete and ends.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a wireless data system 400 according toanother embodiment of the invention. The wireless data system 400includes a wireless ISP 402 that couples to a wireless network 404. Thewireless network 404 includes or couples to a plurality of wirelessnetwork carrier base stations, including wireless network carrier basestations 406 and 408. The wireless network carrier base stations 406 and408 transmit and receive radio frequency signals to and from a pluralityof wireless devices, including wireless devices 410 and 412. For ease ofrepresentation, the wireless data system 400 is illustrated as includingtwo base stations and two wireless devices. However, it should berecognized that the wireless data system 400 typically supports manycarrier base stations and many wireless devices.

The wireless device 410 includes a wireless phone 414 coded to channel1, transceivers (transmitters and receivers) 416 coded to channels X, Yand Z, a wireless modem 418 that supports multiple channels, and a usersystem for 420. The wireless device 410 is built around a wireless phonedevice. However, it should be recognized that the wireless device 410could be other mobile computing devices besides those providing voicecall capability. In fact, what is important with respect to theinvention is that the mobile computing devices have data transmissionand/or reception capability.

In any case, a conventional wireless phone would include a transmitterand a receiver coded to a particular channel, provide a modem for aparticular channel, and provide a user system. However, the wirelessdevice 410 additionally operates such that it is able to transmit andreceive data over not only the particular channel but also additionalchannels through use of the transceivers 416 and the wireless modem 418.

The wireless device 412 is similar to the wireless phone 410. Thewireless device 412, however, additionally supports not only theparticular channel (channel N) but also supports capability of usingadditional channels (namely, channels P, S, X). In particular, thewireless device 412 includes a wireless phone 422 coded to channel N,transceivers (transmitters and receivers) 424 coded to channels P, S, X,a wireless modem 426 that supports multiple channels, and a user system428.

Accordingly, multiple channels can be utilized between a single wirelessdevice and the wireless network 404 so that wireless access to a publicnetwork 430 can be provided by the wireless ISP 402. As a result, thedata transfer capability between the carrier base stations 406 and 408and the wireless devices 410 and 412 can be adjusted in accordance withuser's needs or desires.

The public network 430 is, for example, the World Wide Web or theInternet. The public network 430 couples to the content servers 432 and434, a data center 436, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 438 and440. The ISP 438 supports users 442 and 444, and the ISP 440 supportsuser's 446 and 448.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a wireless data system 500 according toanother embodiment of the invention. The wireless data system 500illustrated in FIG. 5 is generally similar to the wireless data system100 illustrated in FIG. 1. However, in this embodiment, the wirelessdata system 500 further includes a mobile device bank number #1 502 inthe first geographic area 108, and a mobile device bank number #2 504 inthe second geographic area 112. The multiple mobile device banks 502 and504 operate as dummy mobile devices present within a geographic areasupported by a particular base station associated with the wirelessnetwork 104. Each mobile device bank 502 and 504 supports a plurality ofchannels over which data can be transmitted. Since these channels arenot associated with mobile devices being utilized by users, such asmobile devices 114 and 116 within the geographic region 108, thesechannels provided by the mobile device banks 502 and 504 are referred toas additional channels.

In one implementation, these additional channels provided by the mobiledevice banks 502 and 504 are utilized as multicast channels. Forexample, when several mobile devices within a geographic region desirethe same content to be downloaded or transmitted to such mobile devices,a multicast data transmission format can be utilized. Here, at least oneof the additional channels provided by the mobile device bank within thegeographic region of the requesting mobile devices would be allocatedfor the multicast data transmission. Then, the wireless network 104 andthe appropriate base station would transmit the requested content in amulticast manner to both requesting mobile devices using the allocatedadditional channel. Additionally, the mobile devices that desire toreceive the multicast data and that are within the geographic regionsupported by the base station would have their additional receivercircuitry tuned to the allocated additional channel. Consequently,several mobile devices are able to simultaneously receive thetransmission of the multicast data over the allocated additionalchannel.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a wireless data system 600 according toanother embodiment of the invention. The wireless data system 600 isgenerally similar to the wireless data system 400 illustrated in FIG. 4.However, like FIG. 5, the wireless data system 600 supports multicastdata transmissions. Hence, the wireless data system 600 includes, withineach base station region (or geographic area) a bank 602 of wirelessdevices (e.g., wireless phones). For example, as shown in FIG. 6, thebank 602 of wireless devices can include wireless phones for each ofchannels P, Q, R, . . . , Z. This represents eleven additional channelsthat can be utilized for transmitting multicast formatted data to thevarious wireless devices within the geographic area (e.g., cell area)supported by a particular carrier base station. The additional channelscan be shared between different geographic areas (e.g., cell areas).Thus, the channels available within a particular geographic area canvary and can be controlled. A central channel manager 604 can beprovided and coupled (wired or wireless) to each of the banks ofwireless devices in the various geographic regions. The channel manager604 can then control the banks to program particular channels to beprovided in particular geographic area. For example, the channel manager604 can assign additional channels to those geographic areas havinggreater need for multicast data transmissions then other regions. Hence,the central channel manager 604 is able to dynamically control those thebanks of wireless devices so that the number of additional channelsavailable in a particular geographical region can be altered as itsneeds and needs of other geographical regions change. When the centralchannel manager provides dynamic control, the additional channels areable to be used with improved efficiency.

The central channel manager 604 couples to the banks of wireless deviceand can be within or controlled by the wireless ISP 402. The centralchannel manager 604 could be embedded within the wireless ISP 402 orcould communicate with the wireless ISP 402 by a dedicated link orthrough a network connection. Alternatively, the central channel manager604 can be controlled by another party.

FIG. 7 illustrates a location table 700 indicating locations of mobiledevices, and an additional channel assignments table 702 indicatingrepresentative assignments of additional channels to particular basestations. The first column of the table 700 indicates assigned channelidentifier numbers (e.g., cell phone numbers; SINs, or EINs) for mobiledevices (wireless Internet users). The second column of the table 700indicates user's location in terms of a cell area of base stations. Thefirst column of the table 702 indicates cell areas of base stations, andthe second column of the table 702 indicates assigned wireless channels(additional channels) for an associated cell area.

In one embodiment, the assigned wireless channels (e.g., number ofwireless channels and the channel number therefor) in the table 702 canbe dynamically updated or changed through remote control by the wirelessISP by loading the ID codes for the assigned wireless channels into thebanks (e.g., bank 602) of wireless cell phones in the cell area of thebase stations desired. By calling or sending data to the cell phonenumbers of the centrally managed bank of wireless phones, theappropriate base station in the area designated will send out the RFsignals for the mobile device in the area to receive. Depending on thecriteria established, the wireless ISP will load one or more ID codes tothe user's wireless cell phone through user's own cell phone ID channelwhich also serves as a control channel. Therefore, the user's wirelesscell phone is tuned and/or time multiplexed decoded to the same datachannels transmitted by the base station in user's geographic cell area.The user's geographic cell area of a base station can be identified by aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) or data provided by the wireless networkcarrier.

Still further another aspect of the invention is that when requesting aweb page using a mobile device through use of a wireless ISP, one ormore additional channels can be used to transfer portions of the webpage to the requesting mobile device. For example, a web page might havea graphic image that provides an advertisement portion for the web page.Often such graphic images are fetched by the web page itself. Whenmultiple mobile devices within a geographical region are fetching thesame advertisement portion, then an additional channel from a bank ofadditional channels could be used to multicast the data for theadvertisement portion to the multiple mobile devices.

By providing advertisement images over a separate additional channel,the wireless ISP is able to provide the advertisement to mobile deviceswithout requiring users of the mobile devices to incur connectioncharges for receiving advertisements. More generally, the inventionfacilitates use of separate channels for different portions of a webpage or other resource. In this manner, certain channels can carry freecontent while other channels incur a fee for their use.

The invention operates independent of the particular technologyunderlying the wireless network. The wireless Internet access is able tobe provided using existing wireless networks. The additional channelscan be assigned and utilized under the control of the wireless ISP, andnot dependent on the wireless network. Hence, the wireless ISP can be anenterprise separate and independent from the wireless network carriers.

Wireless carriers typically perform dynamic channel allocation to betterutilized their available frequency spectrum. It should also beunderstood that the dedicated, normal, fixed or private channel for awireless device referred to above is designated at a particular time bythe wireless carriers through use of a cell phone number or SystemIdentification Number (SIN). The wireless carriers control assignment ofa cell phone number or SIN to a particular wireless device at the timethe wireless service is subscribed. Thus, the dedicated, normal, fixedor private channel referred to above is technically dedicated or privateto a mobile device only during the particular time that the wirelesscarrier has made them such (e.g., during a timeslice). With theinvention, cell phone numbers, SINs, or other identifiers can be changedor allocated to different wireless devices. This ability to change orallocate cell phone numbers, SINs or other identifiers thus enables moreefficient use of the additional channels discussed above.

The invention can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combinationof hardware and software. The invention can also be embodied as computerreadable code on a computer readable medium. The computer readablemedium is any data storage device that can store data which can bethereafter be read by a computer system. Examples of the computerreadable medium include read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs,magnetic tape, optical data storage devices, carrier waves. The computerreadable medium can also be distributed over a network coupled computersystems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in adistributed fashion.

The advantages of the invention are numerous. Different embodiments orimplementations may yield one or more of the following advantages. Oneadvantage of the invention is that available wireless bandwidth can bemore efficiently utilized. Another advantage of the invention is thatimproved data transfers through a wireless data network are achievedthrough use of additional channels that can be allocated. Still anotheradvantage of the invention is that a large number of users (subscribers)can be supported with less wireless bandwidth. Yet still anotheradvantage of the invention is that the dynamic wireless bandwidthallocation for wireless Internet unicast, multicast or broadcast can beachieved without the business and operational interference and controlfrom the wireless network carriers. Another advantage of the inventionis that it can be implemented independent of the different hardware andsoftware standards generally employed by many different wirelesscarriers.

The many features and advantages of the present invention are apparentfrom the written description, and thus, it is intended by the appendedclaims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention.Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur tothose skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention tothe exact construction and operation as illustrated and described.Hence, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to asfalling within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for transmitting data from serversthrough a wireless data network to wireless clients, each of thewireless clients having an assigned wireless data channel allocatedthereto, said system comprising: a wireless Internet Service Providercenter coupled to the wireless data network and a wired data network,the wireless data network utilizing a plurality of base stations locatedat geographically distinct areas; and a plurality of banks of additionalwireless devices, each of the additional wireless devices being capableof providing at least one additional wireless data channel to saidwireless Internet Service Provider via the wireless data network,wherein, when one or more of the wireless clients have a need forgreater wireless bandwidth, one or more of the additional wireless datachannels from one or more of the additional wireless devices in one ormore of the banks are able to be temporarily allocated to the one ormore of the wireless clients.
 2. A system as recited in claim 1, whereineach of said banks are located in a different one of the geographicallydistinct areas.
 3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the wirelessclients comprise programmable receivers, and wherein the programmablereceivers are able to be programmed to one or more of the wireless datachannels.